Saturday, February 9, 2013

Is the LAPD's Rogue Cop Christopher Dorner "The Hate That Hate Produced?"

I’m not an aspiring rapper, I’m not a gang member, I’m not a dope dealer, I don’t have multiple babies momma’s. I am an American by choice, I am a son, I am a brother, I am a military service member, I am a man who has lost complete faith in the system, when the system betrayed, slandered, and libeled me. I lived a good life and though not a religious man I always stuck to my own personal code of ethics, ethos and always stuck to my shoreline and true North. I didn’t need the US Navy to instill Honor, Courage, and Commitment in me but I thank them for re-enforcing it. It’s in my DNA.

The story of Christopher Dorner's war against the LAPD is tragic for all parties involved. Christopher Dorner was hurt. Christopher Dorner was betrayed. Christopher Dorner was apparently let down by the system he believed in. Christopher Dorner is well-trained and dangerous.From what I can gleam from his manifesto Christopher Dorner is also a truth-teller of sorts--he has also apparently had a psychotic break. His actions have drawn blood; he has betrayed his "tribe"; and his words are also verbally lethal.For those reasons Christopher Dorner will most likely be killed by the LAPD officers hunting him at this very moment.In reading Christopher Dorner's manifesto, there is so much loss and anger apparent. Nevertheless, most of the manifesto is "logical" and internally consistent when taken on its own terms.What happens when you are the Other and buy into the system--and then realize that the system has no use for you? What happens when you take the pill to stay in the Matrix, to work with hegemonic power, and you realize that you are just like one of "them?" Racially marked and expendable? Useful until such moment that The System deems you otherwise? Donner seems to be responding to these difficult questions.One of my favorite examples of how Power works in the real world is that of the elephant who runs amok at the circus. When elephants are babies they are chained up. At a certain point the elephant comes to accept its captivity as normal. One day the trainer removes the chain. The elephant continues to act as though it is confined and under control of its human captor. At some point, a particularly bright and self-aware elephant will realize that it is no longer chained up. In that instance, the elephant will snap. It will turn on its captors with vicious rage and anger. The elephant has realized the lie and fiction; now, it is time for payback.At his heart, Christopher Dorner seems to be a black pragmatist, who as indicated by his manifesto, has come to realize some cold, hard, truths about the Los Angeles Police Department and the nature of (white) institutional Power.But, Christopher Dorner also seems like a sincere and practical black conservative with a dose of Black Pragmatism added to the mix for flavor, one who thought himself special, overly identified with an abstract belief in what America should be as opposed to what it is, drank the American Exceptionalism Kool-Aid, and then realized that this "patriotic" and "real America" bonafides were insufficient to shield him and others from racism (and those folks materially and psychologically invested in it).However, Dorner could also be a frustrated liberal egalitarian who took to heart the promise of the American creed and Doctor King's vision in the abstract. But, Dorner's hopeful vision could not be reconciled with the reality of day-to-day institutional and personal racism.Either way, he had an epiphany, breaking the chains of "normal" behavior, deciding to lash out against his foes both real and imagined.We cannot forget that Christopher Dorner chose to join a historically racist organization known as the Los Angeles Police Department. For that reason, I have no sympathy for him. Racism is not about skin color per se; ultimately, racism is about racialized power and those who identify with it.Christopher Dorner is in They Live mode right now. As such he is probably telling himself that, "I got news for 'em. There's gonna be hell to pay. 'Cause I ain't Daddy's little boy no more."
Christopher Dorner's potpourri of politics, personal wisdom, invective, and raw ideology, in the form of a manifesto from a man whose mind is just pouring itself onto the page, is hard to put into one box of neatly limited and bounded themes.However, the following few paragraphs were particularly striking. What did the LAPD make in Christopher Dorner? And are there other Christopher Dorners out there, waiting for their moment to strike?

Terminating officers because they expose a culture of lying, racism (from the academy), and excessive use of force will immediately change. PSB can not police their own and that has been proven. The blue line will forever be severed and a cultural change will be implanted. You have awoken a sleeping giant.

I am here to change and make policy. The culture of LAPD versus the community and honest/good officers needs to and will change. I am here to correct and calibrate your morale compasses to true north.

Those Caucasian officers who join South Bureau divisions (77th,SW,SE, an Harbor) with the sole intent to victimize minorities who are uneducated, and unaware of criminal law, civil law, and civil rights. You prefer the South bureau because a use of force/deadly force is likely and the individual you use UOF on will likely not report it. You are a high value target.

Those Black officers in supervisory ranks and pay grades who stay in south bureau (even though you live in the valley or OC) for the sole intent of getting retribution toward subordinate caucasians officers for the pain and hostile work environment their elders inflicted on you as probationers (P-1′s) and novice P-2’s. You are a high value target. You perpetuated the cycle of racism in the department as well. You breed a new generation of bigoted caucasian officer when you belittle them and treat them unfairly.

Those Hispanic officers who victimize their own ethnicity because they are new immigrants to this country and are unaware of their civil rights. You call them wetbacks to their face and demean them in front of fellow officers of different ethnicities so that you will receive some sort of acceptance from your colleagues. I’m not impressed. Most likely, your parents or grandparents were immigrants at one time, but you have forgotten that. You are a high value target.

Those lesbian officers in supervising positions who go to work, day in day out, with the sole intent of attempting to prove your misandrist authority (not feminism) to degrade male officers. You are a high value target.

Those Asian officers who stand by and observe everything I previously mentioned other officers participate in on a daily basis but you say nothing, stand for nothing and protect nothing. Why? Because of your usual saying, ” I……don’t like conflict”. You are a high value target as well.

Those of you who “go along to get along” have no backbone and destroy the foundation of courage. You are the enablers of those who are guilty of misconduct. You are just as guilty as those who break the code of ethics and oath you swore.

What happens when you are the Other and buy into the system--and then realize that the system has no use for you? What happens when you take the pill to stay in the Matrix, to work with hegemonic power, and you realize that you are just like one of "them?" Racially marked and expendable? Useful until such moment that The System deems you otherwise? Donner seems to be responding to these difficult questions.

lol, underscores how profoundly corrupt your beloved HNIC the Hon.Bro.Preznit.Stephen Obama has to be in order to serve as the brown exemplar and putative figurehead and narrator in charge for "The System"...,

Nah, Mr. Donner is an honorable and morally upright young man who was violently and serially disabused of ALL his cherished illusions of institutional, familial, and intimate integrity, honor, sincerity and virtue.

No one sheltered, fathered and cultivated the grim but true realization in this young man that he and he alone is the arbiter of virtue in his life. Seeking for virtue outside himself in others, pledging his allegiance to others in status-hierarchy institutions, he abruptly discovered the moral open sewer of American consensus reality and suffered the consequences of holding his nose and going along to get along.

Shame.

I hope young Christopher Django Donner persists far longer in his war than anyone expects him to.

This is indeed a fascinating story. For now I just want to give a nod of gratitude to you for this line:

"ultimately, racism is about racialized power and those who identify with it."

I have to admit, I don't think I have any rigorous sense of the fundamental tools and definitions you use to analyze and deconstruct current events, despite the fact that your analysis has always resonated with me and my own experiences. After reading that line I went on a google searching spree for more rigorous definitions of "racialized power", and I'm sure I'm in for some excellent reading.

If I may be so bold, maybe along with the new look and forward momentum, you might make little boxes with a subheading "In Academic Terms", to draw us into more rigorous theory along with your more plain spoken and salient examples of truths you are trying to express. I know you already do this from time to time (probably more often than I notice), but I thought I'd chime up to encourage more. Maybe this is not the place for such rigor but I thought I'd ask so forgive me for any impertinence.

You are psychic. I use terms without qualifying them and on occasion are going to just offer up language and definitions in an effort to be transparent. I just borrow from others and try to apply concepts in a way that is applicable to the day-to-day.

His alleged "manifesto" could be served up by law enforcement as a ruse for the public to sanction his extrajudicial killing. After all, for those of us that still believe in Due Process, he is still a suspect. The Torrance Police Department (LA County), shot at two women delivering newspapers because their truck matched the description of Dorner's. Kind of a preview of the kind of justice Dorner will get if he's caught. We are all dust in the wind to them.

I'd like to let the smoke clear a little before I make a judgement on this man's guilt or innocence or try to profile his personality. Can we trust all of this hindsight info the media is driveling out to us? The same media who didn't scrutinize the WMD excuse for invading Iraq? The information that is being leaked to the public is not for the public's safety, but it favors the oh so scorned police. It sets a stage for them to continue to put their lives at a higher value than those they are supposed to protect and serve. It also sets the stage for them to keep the status quo without addressing the crux of this "manifesto" that seems to bring forth some undeniable truths.

Chickens exploited and abused have come home to roost and they have been consumed in hate. Ironic that his real crime was to report police brutality and it seems like the victim was a white male with mental health issues beaten by a women cop. Me thinks they don't want to bring him in alive.

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